Investigation into former police chief completed

But officials say they won’t reveal results of five-month probe of former police chief

Escondido Police Chief Jim Maher meets with some of his supporters for a few minutes as they carried signs in support of him in front of Escondido City Hall during a September 2012 rally.
CHARLIE NEUMAN • U-T file

Escondido Police Chief Jim Maher meets with some of his supporters for a few minutes as they carried signs in support of him in front of Escondido City Hall during a September 2012 rally.
CHARLIE NEUMAN • U-T file

ESCONDIDO  A personnel investigation that prompted Escondido Police Chief Jim Maher to retire late last year has been completed, but city officials said they won’t reveal the results of the nearly five-month probe.

“The results are a personnel matter, so we don’t have any comment,” City Attorney Jeff Epp said Tuesday.

City officials also said this week that they hadn’t decided whether to conduct a national search for Maher’s replacement, or if someone already working for the department would be promoted.

Assistant Chief Cory Moles was promoted to interim chief when Maher was placed on leave Sept. 12 pending the investigation.

Epp said the investigation cost $17,600. He also said Maher’s pension wouldn’t be reduced or eliminated based on any misconduct. But he declined to reveal anything more.

U-T San Diego filed public records requests last year seeking any settlement arrangement the city had reached with Maher, and any emails between Maher, Epp and City Manager Clay Phillips from June through November 2012.

The city denied those requests, saying the documents are confidential peace officer records and are exempt from disclosure.

Maher’s supporters held rallies at City Hall after he was placed on leave, carrying signs saying “Bring Back Chief Maher” and “Fire Clay Phillips: We Can Not Afford His Lies.”

Many Maher supporters have made unsubstantiated suggestions at rallies and on social media that Phillips decided to force the chief out because of friction between the two men.

Maher strongly supported the police labor union during negotiations in 2011 and early 2012, and he refused a pay raise Phillips offered all his top managers last winter.

Phillips has declined to comment on whether his relationship with Maher soured.

When Maher was placed on leave, the chief said the personnel investigation was launched shortly after he alerted Phillips that two Police Department employees might have engaged in improper conduct.

Neither Maher nor city officials have identified those employees. City officials said no one other than Maher was placed on leave as a result of the investigation.

Maher announced Oct. 31, while the investigation was still under way, that he would retire Dec. 31.

On replacing Maher, Mayor Sam Abed said this week that it was crucial the new chief support some controversial Police Department policies put in place in recent years. They include frequent staging of traffic safety checkpoints and a close partnership with federal immigration officials.

Supporters say those policies have helped reduce crime and hit-and-run crashes, while critics say they have alienated Latinos, who make up 49 percent of Escondido’s population.

“We need somebody to continue to implement the successful policies we’ve had for years and strengthen them,” said Abed, adding that those policies have been popular with most Escondido residents.

The mayor said it was possible that an outsider could effectively continue those policies.

“We are open-minded and we have to look at every option,” he said. “We are not in a hurry, because Cory Moles is doing an excellent job.”

Councilwoman Olga Diaz, the lone council member who has criticized the city’s handling of the Maher investigation, said a national search was essential.

“I understand why developing talent internally is appealing, but in the case of Escondido, it would be healthy to bring in an external candidate,” Diaz said. “Police officers took sides on the Chief Maher thing, and some even protested. Hiring an outsider might zero out all the tension.”

Diaz, who is married to Escondido police Lt. Neal Griffin, said an outsider with a track record of success in an ethnically diverse community would be ideal.

“If we hire from within, we might miss out on different experiences or perspectives,” she said. “That’s not to say we don’t have great talent here, but we might get some amazing candidates.”

But Councilman Ed Gallo said hiring from outside could be risky. Many feathers were ruffled in the department in 1987 when Carlsbad Police Chief Vince Jimno was hired as Escondido’s chief, Gallo said.

“The whole department didn’t function well,” he said.

Gallo said hiring an outsider could also send a negative message to officers.

“We want the guy hired two years ago or tomorrow to know he could be chief some day if he works hard and does the right things,” Gallo said.

But Gallo said he was also open to an outside search.

“It might depend on whether we have someone in the department who can just slide right in and take over,” he said.

Jimno’s predecessor, Chief Jim Connole, was an outsider whom Escondido hired from the San Diego Police Department in 1978. They were the last two outsiders hired as Escondido chief.